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Rainy Day Stroll in Danao City

I said in a previous post that Typhoon Ramon forced me to be stranded in the City of Danao. Instead of skulk and be pissed off by the typhoon, I used the whole day to roam the center of Danao City and see what the city has to offer.

Danao City is located in the Province of Cebu. It is connected to Cebu City by oversized multicab (Cebu version of jeepney) and public utility buses. Danao City is famous for its cottage industry of hand guns that started before the Second World War. Gun making is currently illegal but many people still flock the city to buy paltik and other hand guns.

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Danao City doesn’t look like a city for me because it is far cry from the cities in Metro Manila. The town has one mall, which is Gaisano Mall. The mainstream restaurants in the city are Jollibee and Mang Inasal. What I like about Danao City is the fact that it is cleaner as compared to Metro Manila. The sea beside the city is still clean and resorts abound in the coastal barangays.

There is not much to see in the center of Danao City. There are few public parks in the area and most of them have monuments. An example would be this World War Two monument located inside the public playground:

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I am not sure if the statue is angry because of the death of his comrade or he is jubilant because he is standing on the body of an enemy soldier.

Of course, the Filipino icon’s statue will never be absent. Jose Rizal is guarded by a big gun in Danao City.

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Located behind the Rizal Park is the Santo Tomas College, which is run by the Augustinian Sisters. Short distance away from Rizal Park is a very old church. I will talk about the Danao City church in the next post.

My walk around Danao City is exhausting. The only means of transportation around the city is the pedicabs and tricycles. Visitors to Danao City should be wary with pedicab drivers because some of them are sly and may ask 50 pesos fare for just a short distance of travel.

I would also like to praise the crew of Danao City branch of Danao City. They are very helpful when I am looking for an affordable accommodation in the city. They pointed me in the right direction.

The soldier is most likely jubilant, if we are to read Danao City's history into the monument. Danao is famous for its weapon manufacturing industry, which was developed during WWII, when Danao citizens were tasked to retool guns captured from Japanese soldiers. The weapon held by the soldier has a bayonet, which was standard issue for Jap soldiers in WWII. The soldier under his feet also appears to be wearing Japanese uniform.